HUELVA, Spain (JUne 7) — Salwa Eid Naser, the 2019 world champion, continued her remarkable comeback from suspension by delivering an impressive performance in the women’s 400m event at the Meeting Iberoamericano 2023 – a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze in Huelva, Spain, on Tuesday (6). Naser secured victory with a season best time of 49.78 seconds, surpassing her previous personal best of 50.27 seconds.
Naser’s time not only ranks as the fifth-fastest in the world this season but also places her among the select group of five women who have achieved a sub-50 seconds 400m in 2023. Her time also matches the seventh-fastest performance of her career, equaling the mark she first set in Lausanne back in 2018.
In this one-side event on Tuesday, South African champion Miranda Coetzee secured second place with a personal best time of 50.90 seconds, breaking the 51-second barrier for the first time in her career. – Read more: Salwa Eid Naser wins 200m/400m double in Miami
Meanwhile, Poland’s Anna Kiełbasińska, the bronze medalist at the European Championships, finished third, clocking a season best time of 51.29 seconds.
This performance by Naser represents a significant stride in her quest to reclaim the world title she missed out on during the 2022 championships in Oregon last summer.
Previously, the Nigerian-born Bahraini sprinter had astonished her competitors and solidified her position as one of the all-time greats in women’s 400m, recording a scintillating time of 48.14 seconds on her way to securing gold at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha.
In other notable achievements at the Meeting Iberoamericano 2023, Vivian Chebet of Kenya stunned with a massive personal best time of 1:58.80 in the women’s 800m, eclipsing her previous lifetime best of 2:00.54 set in Nairobi on May 13.
Elsewhere at the at the Meeting Iberoamericano 2023, Tara Davis Woodhall, a two-time NCAA champion and Olympic finalist from the United States, emerged victorious in the women’s long jump with a leap of 6.85m.
